|
|
In early Windows versions there was a simple word processor called Write. It disappeared around the same time that Windows 98 came onto the scene. I recently had a client replace their old Windows 98 machines, with Windows 7. They also jumped from Office 97 to Office 2007, so they really got updated. One problem we faced is that they use an older real estate program that saved files in a .wri (Windows Write format). When we tried to open the older document in Windows 7, Word Pad would open, and the document would be corrupt at the top and bottom. After looking into it, the Write program (write.exe) is simply a stub that then launches WordPad. In order to make it function the way they need it to, we copied the old Write program from one of the old computers and after making a copy of the Write.exe program (in the Windows directory), we replaced it. I was a little surprised that it seems to be working just fine and all of their old documents are now readable.
In summary, in Windows 7 (and probably most recent versions of Windows) Write is simply starting WordPad.exe. If you need to older Write Program, simply replace the Write.exe file in the Windows directory with the older version.
We recently had a client that had a small scanner he used to scan documents. The scanner was new and had been working without issues until suddenly one day the computer reported that the USB devices were overpowered. There is a limit to how much power you can draw, but only 3 devices were installed (the keyboard, mouse, and the scanner). The keyboard and mouse should be very low power, but the Scanner was utilizing the USB connection to provide both the communication and the power to the unit.
USB devices are limited to a maximum of 500mA of current draw. Because of this, if it was drawing too much, then best solution is to put in a second powered USB hub (a powered USB hub has a power connection as well as a USB connection to the computer). After adding the external USB hub, we again plugged the USB Scanner in, and got the same overpowered message. After repeating it several times, we wanted to narrow it down to the scanner, or the USB cable, so we replaced the USB cable. Suddenly there were no problems.
Part of the moral of the story is to always test the simple things first.
As far as USB ports and HUBs, most USB hubs (and your USB ports on a computer are basically one powered hub) can provide a maximum of 500mA. There are two types of port replicators; one is powered only by the port it is connected to, the other has a separate power connection with a transformer. The non-powered units are simply splitting up the existing 500mA of power that is available. The powered USB Hubs are the preferred type. If you have a lot of USB devices, or have devices that rely on the USB port to provide all of the power, the powered USB hub is the only way to go.
If you want to see how much current you are drawing, simply go to the device manager, right click on one of the USB Hubs listed and go to Properties. On the properties dialog box, click on the Power tab, and you will see the power available as well as the power in use.
 Windows 7 Device Manager On the properties dialog box, click on the Power tab, and you will see the power available as well as the power in use. The USB Composite device is a wireless mouse transmitter, the G4050 is an HP Scanner in idle mode, and the Mass Storage Device is a Relay thumb drive (512Mb, older Staples model). It is a bit surprising it take 200mA.
 USB Properties
Windows Vista brough a new rating method for rating different components within a users PC. The concept is good in that it measures specific components and rates them on a scale. Windows Vista was from 1.0 to 5.9 and now Windows 7 has a range of 1.0-7.9. The increase is due to the systems available now being faster than when Windows Vista first appeared. I have been surprised that the PC makers have not displayed the ratings for their systems, but I guess an un-informed comsumer may be better customer for them. I think more knowledge helps customers make a more informed decision so I have rated a few recent systems and you see the results here.
I have recently provided both a Dell VOSTRO 220 and an HP Pro 3000 to two different clients, both had the same E7500 processor with 2Gb of memory, so I thought it would be interesting to compate the ratings. I am also including an office computer that we have built as a comparison.
Dell VOSTRO 220 HP Pro 3000 Intel DG965 w Quad Core
E7500 2Core 2.93Ghz E7500 2Core 2.93Ghz Q9600 2.66Ghz
DDR2 800Mhz DDR3 1333Mhz DDR2 800Mhz
Intel® GMA X4500HD Intel® GMA X4500HD NVIDIA GeForce 8500
Processor 6.4 6.4 7.2
Memory 5.5 5.5 7.2
Graphics 4.4 4.1 4.5
Gaming Graphics 3.6 3.5 5.5
Hard Disk 5.9 5.9 5.8
Price $544.00 $619.00
The biggest surpries are the memory speed of the 1333Mhz DDR3 being the same as the 800Mhz DDR2 of the Vostro. It is also surprising that the Dell gets slightly better video performance from the same Intel Integrated Chipset (they could be the same or very similar motherboards). One last comparision is the power wupply, with the Dell at 300watts vs the HP at 250 W. We have also tested a HP with a E6300 Dual Core, 2.8Ghz and it has a CPU rating of 6.2
Occasionally users will report that all of their printers are gone. This is a good indication that the Print Spooler Service has stopped for some reason. To recover the printers, Right click on the Computer or My Computer Icon and choose Manage. At the bottom, click on Services and in the right side you should see a listng of all services that are installed on the computer. Scroll down to get to the Printer Spooler and if it is NOT listed as Started, right click on it and choose Start. Assuming that it stays started, close the Management control panel and then go back to the Printers and Faxes and see if your printers are back.
We recently had to update an remote computer used by a doctor to access their office. The problem we faced was that the new computer was a 64 bit computer, and the Cisco Client will not run on 64 bit Windows 7. In investigating, Cisco’s replacement will run on Windows 7, 64 bit, but it will not connect to the older Cisco PIX firewalls (only to the current Cisco ASA replacements). After doing some searching we found that Shrew Soft Inc. ( www.shrew.net ) has a 64 bit client that was supposed to be compatible with the Cisco PIX and it would run on a 64 bit machine.
After downloading it and following the helpful instructions we were able to confirm that yes it does indeed connect and worked great in our limited testing.
So if you have a need for a 64 bit Client VPN connection to a CISCO PIX, you do not need to replace the firewall, just use the Shrew Soft VPN Access Manager as your 64 bit VPN client.
We had a client who had an employee mistakenly delete a directory (and a lot of subdirectories) from the server. When you are connected through a network to a server, you do not have a “recycle bin”. When you delete the files they are gone; so it was very fortunate that he had replaced his unreliable tape backup with our Online Backup. To recover the files, we simply connected to the server remotely and in about 10 minutes he was recovering his files.
If it was just a single file it would have been restored almost immediately, but since he lost nearly 2Gb of data it took a couple of hours to download all the lost information.
One of the most common issues that I hear from users of wireless mice and keyboards is “it suddenly stopped working”. Everyone should remember that these are battery powered devices and that the batteries do not last forever. Of course after you explain what probably happened, they replace the batteries and they are both relieved that it is working again, and surprised that it was something that they can easily fix.
I have recently ran into a case where the user did replace the batteries and it still did not work. After I stopped in to check it out, I put his “new” batteries into a wireless mouse I had brought and it still did not work. We then replaced them with new batteries just opened, and it worked fine. What he did not tell me is the he took them from another battery powered device and put them in the mouse.
Things to remember, don’t replace used batteries with used batteries. Just because another device is working with them does not mean they have enough power for the new device. AND always keep a spare set of batteries in your desk.
I recently had a client whose old desktop scanner was working intermittently, so we replaced it with the Visioneer RoadWarrior. For a person on the road, or with limited space on their desktop, this makes a lot of sense. It comes with the scanner driver as well as Visioneer PaperPort that allows you to organize your scans easily. This can be a great addition to help you get the clutter off your desk.
I recently worked on a Windows XP Laptop that was infected with the alureon.dp malware/ virus. The antivirus had expired a month ago and they had not renewed it. The symptoms were:
- internet access was being redirected. A Google seach would redirect to triplexfeed dot com (a Porn advertising site)
- a “potentially harmful software message” coming up
- antivirus (Trend Micro) appeared to fail.
First we tried to start in safe mode to see if we can do a system restore to a point 3-4 days ago (before the Malware got in). Unfortunately, we could not get into safe mode, the computer kept going into a blue screen midway in starting.
Next we went to a second computer and downloaded both Malwarebytes and Microsoft’s Security Essentials. Both are free though Microsoft does require you to be validaed as “Genuine Windows” and put both on a USB drive.
We moved the USB drive to the infected computer and tried to install both programs. Neither program would run. A message was coming up to select the program to open the files with. The Malware had changed the registry to fool it to not know that files with .exe extensions were executable and could run.
To fix that we went back to the second computer and downloaded xp_exe_fix. this was a zipped file that when extracted produced a .reg file. That .reg file is inserted into the registry when you double click on it. After double clicking we had to say OK that we wanted to do it and then we got a message that it was successfully put into the registry.
At that point we could then load and update both the Malwarebytes and the Microsoft Security Essentials. After updating both we ran the Security Essentials, it found the malware and removed it.
We then went back, started in safe mode and did a system restore to a point 4 days ago. After rebooting, we did a final scan with both Malwarebytes and Security Essentials and both were clean.
If you install Office 2003 on a Windows 7 machine you may get acceptance agreements popping up even after you have authorized the software. The reason for this is Windows 7 (and Windows Vista) have tighter control on the “Administrator” rights. Even if you are logged in as Administrator, Windows will limit your access to certain areas. This is an attempt to lock down the computer from malicious software that may try to do bad things. Before everyone gets too excited, you should know that this is similar to the Apple operating system where whenever you install a program or do anything that could be harmful, it will ask for the administrator password. This helps limit malware programs from installing themselves.
The solution to all of this is simply to right click on the launch icon and choose Run as Administrator. That will give you the rights to make changes in the registry and set the flags so Office knows you have accepted the license terms and agreement.
|
|
